History of steamer at Stickford event

Stickford Local History Group’s next meeting will be held on Thursday, May 16 at 7.30pm in Stickford Community Centre, when there will be an illustrated talk about the history of the paddle steamer “The Medway Queen”.

Mark and Pam Bathurst, who are travelling from Kent, will give the talk.

The discussion of the ship’s history, illustrated with photos and video, starts when she was built in Scotland in 1924 and continues through her life as a pleasure steamer before and after World War Two and includes her wartime service as a minesweeper and rescuing soldiers from Dunkirk.

It will also look at what happened following her withdrawal from service.

Admission is £2, which includes refreshments. All are welcome

The Medway Queen was recently featured on BBC’s Countryfile programme, where she was shown being restored.

Stickford Local History Group chairman, Cheryl Steele, said: “This should be a very interesting talk which will hopefully be of interest to a wide variety of people.

“We hope that a lot of people will come as the speakers are travelling a long way.”